Quiet Saturday Morning

Mood: Quiet, contemplative.
Location: Local coffee shop while Mr. A is at the monthly men's breakfast at church.
Drink: Chai latte. :)
Book: A Woman After God's Own Heart.
Music: Gungor, of all things.  I hadn't listened to any of their music in recent years. I personally visited with Michael and Lisa Gungor back in 2003 a couple times and got to hear some of their heart and see them off the stage. Makes me hear music differently when I've talked to the authors/artists.
Baby status: Moving quite firmly. My entire stomach rearranges every time he moves. :)

Just a quiet morning away from the distractions of the house and the office (and mostly away from the distractions of the computer).  It's been a hectic many weeks, so it's good to get some down time where office work and packing boxes aren't staring me in the face.  Just a cup of chai and the mountains.

(my coffee shop window view)

I've been working on digging back into the Word and prayer during regular quiet times this week.  It's been a good reminder of how much more aware I am of God's presence when I'm regularly spending time with Him.  But yesterday was a reminder that not all days are characterized by that heightened awareness.  Some days we get to live by faith, not by sight (or emotions).  And walking through those moments by faith (even when we don't feel like it) strengthen our spiritual muscles.  I think I lost some skirmishes yesterday, but ended up winning the battle. mostly.  So thankful for Mr A who was an example to me last night of God's faithfulness to us.  God's faithful even when we're not perfect in fighting the battles. :)

Recent quote enjoyed: Every believer may and must have his time when he is indeed himself alone with God. Oh, the thought to have God all alone to myself, and to know that God has me all alone to Himself! - Mrs. Charles Cowman, Streams in the Desert.  (Quoted in Woman After God's Own Heart)

Too Heavy

A friend was asking, "WHY???" today in regards to one of those situations where no one really knows the answer. Why didn't God change things? Why didn't God reach in and intervene? He could have! Why didn't He? I don't have those answers any better than anyone else, but it did remind me of this Corrie ten Boom story that I appreciate.

Corrie had just asked her father a hard question.

He turned to look at me, as he always did when answering a question, but to my surprise he said nothing. At last he stood up, lifted his traveling case from the rack over our heads, and set it on the floor.

"Will you carry it off the train, Corrie?" he said.

I stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with the watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning.

"It's too heavy," I said.

"Yes," he said. "And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It's the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you." (The Hiding Place (Bantam, Reissue Edition, 1984) 26-27)

The Power of His Gospel

Came across this quote last week from Donald Miller (emphasis mine):

A young pastor...talks to me from time to time about the new face of church in America--about the postmodern church.   He says the new church will be different from the old one, that we will be relevant to culture and the human struggle.  I don't think any church has ever been relevant to culture, to the human struggle, unless it believed in Jesus and the power of His gospel.  If the supposed new church believes in trendy music and cool web pages, then it is not relevant to culture either.  It is just another tool of Satan to get people to be passionate about nothing.

I remember when I first came across the book Blue Like Jazz.  I was skeptical - expecting another "this is my path to God and each path looks different" book.  But I kept finding Miller bringing his audience back to sin and redemption and Jesus and the truth and power of the Gospels.  And here was another example of that.  In an age of churches desperately trying to be "relevant" to today's entertainment-oriented culture, it can be easy to "believe" in trendy music or lights or catchy videos or hi-tech solutions as a way of "being relevant."  But who we are has to be based on Jesus and the power of His gospel or we can become a distraction from who God is really is.  Or, as Miller puts it a little more strongly, "just another tool of Satan."

Ice Storm Comfort

The promised ice storm which shut the office down yesterday finally came through last night about 8:00 or so. By 11pm, the sidewalks and ground were white with sleet and the roads were getting messy. The sidewalks got slick about 7pm. I know. L., you weren't the only one to have a "touchdown" yesterday!

The office is closed until noon today as the streets are frozen over. Prayer meeting has been moved from last night to tonight. It's cold outside (umm... except compared to Anthony where it's 7 degrees and my dad is delivering miles of city mail on foot today).

So... I'm going to go check out the gfa.org update on bicycles for missionaries and then head back to my papasan to cuddle with a good book and my grandmother's quilt. Yay for flannels PJs and warm houses!

Directed Steps

About two weeks ago, I put on my Outlook calendar for Wednesday the 21st, Invite C-Family to Supper???. My schedule was busy and I never got around to inviting them or working out the details of how it would happen. So Tuesday morning, I deleted the appointment. Tuesday evening, Mrs. C approached me at prayer and asked how I was. Short conversation later, I had invited her and the family to help me clean my rental house and have supper with me on Wednesday.

So...Mrs. C helped me finish packing up the kitchen and then we had supper - praise God for the crockpot and rice cooker. We didn't have time to mint-stick the brownies, but we did have ice cream on the WARM brownies. YUM, YUM! (Yes, Gen, there are leftovers and yes, you can eat them!)

I could tell that Mrs. C and the girls were tired, but they still came back to the house and helped me clean for another hour. Now the dusting is done, the master bathroom is done, the secondary bathroom is done, the boxes are all taped and labeled and in the garage, my car is loaded for the next trip to Johnsons, and my spirits are lifted.

Mrs. C had been reading Proverbs recently and shared with me from Prov 20:24 the promise that our steps are directed by the Lord. We really felt that tonight was a living example.

I don't think I've ever had a better time scrubbing a tub than I did tonight as Mrs. C was exulting over the things the Lord was showing her through the book Heaven by Randy Alcorn.

I praise God for you guys!

Moving the Righteous

A friend came over last night to help me pack up the kitchen for tomorrow's big move and we talked about the fact that I'm starting my 7th year at GFA and starting my 7th address. She wrote me this morning: "I came across this verse this morning and thought of you with your 6 moves and another one coming up! 'I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.' Genesis 28:15."

Thinking of scripture and moving made me go back and dig out the scripture I was given at our New Year's Eve service. Yep, I was right. It did have to do with moving. Psalm 55:22b says, "He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved."

Does that mean I need to work on my righteousness?

Noble or prideful?

Excerpt from the book Blue Like Jazz:

A few years ago I was listing prayer requests to a friend. As I listed my requests, I mentioned many of my friends and family, but never spoke about my personal problems. My friend candidly asked me to reveal my own struggles, but I told him no, that my problems weren't that bad. My friend answered quickly, in the voice of a confident teacher, "Don, you are not above the charity of God."

In that instant he revealed my motives were not noble, they were prideful. It wasn't that I cared about my friends more than myself, it was that I believed I was above the grace of God.

...I am too prideful to accept the grace of God. It isn't that I want to earn my own way to give something to God, it's that I want to earn my own way so I won't be charity.

That's me more than I want to admit. There's still a part of me that desperately wants to achieve goodness on my own instead of being dependent on someone else (even God) to gift that to me.